I admire any filmmaker crazy enough to tackle the Bible. Just looking at the Book of Genesis alone, dozens of movie directors have tried interpreting these stories since the early days of the silents. The list includes people like Cecil B. De Mille (The Ten Commandments, 1923; Samson and Delilah, 1949; The Ten Commandments, 1956), Robert Aldrich (Sodom and Gomorra, 1962) and John Huston (The Bible: In the Beginning, 1966). All of these films were star-studded epics that are seen today as campy, fun, and somewhat groan-inducing. At the time, these directors were lauded for their efforts in some circles and roundly condemned in others.
In 1928, Oscar-winning director Michael Curtiz (Casablanca) directed a film about Noah’s Ark that starred Dolores Costello and George O’Brien and included a parallel story set in World War I. While the film was a box office success, it is remembered today more for the appearance of several soon-to-be-famous extras including John Wayne, Andy Devine, and Myrna Loy as a writhing slave girl. So much water was let loose during the filming of the big flood scene that three extras drowned and several others suffered broken limbs, including one poor soul whose leg had to be amputated. This led to much stricter safety regulations being put in place on movie sets — perhaps the film’s most important legacy.
Other than a brief appearance by John Huston himself as Noah in his all-inclusive The Bible, the story of the Ark has been curiously absent in films since Curtiz’s 1928 effort. There was a TV movie made in 1999 starring Jon Voight and Mary Steenburgen as Noah and his wife, but that film was largely derided for its irreverent portrayals and for inexplicably combining Noah’s story with that of Lot’s in Sodom and Gomorra.
Darren Aronofsky has said that he’s been fascinated by the story of Noah ever since he was a child, even winning a contest at the age of 13 with a poem about the biblical character. Looking at films such as Black Swan, The Wrestler, The Fountain and Requiem for a Dream, it’s easy to see that Aronofsky does not shy away from main characters who are tortured souls with a very specific vision of how things should be. Issues of faith, fear, personal ruin and hard-won hope are themes that run through all of Aronofsky’s films. Given that the actual story of Noah in the Book of Genesis takes up only a few pages and includes no dialogue, Aronofsky and his co-screenwriter Ari Handel had to create their own vision of Noah’s world. It’s an audacious and intriguing vision, and one that obviously takes plenty of liberties with the characters and events.
While the film is rife with supernatural phenomena, we mercifully never hear from a Cecil B. DeMille-like voice of God. The Creator (as he is exclusively referred to in this film) is curiously absent from the proceedings, a fact that is maddening for both Noah (Russell Crowe) and his nemesis, Tubal-Cain (Ray Winstone), a descendant of the infamous Cain who slew Abel and one of the leaders of the corrupt civilization that has nearly destroyed the Earth. Instead of pompous voiceovers or burning bushes, Noah receives his instructions in a series of dreams that incorporate imagery from earlier stories in the Book of Genesis including Adam and Eve’s shenanigans in the Garden of Eden. This is Aronofsky at his best — Noah’s animated hallucinations are presented as actual visions even though they are not that different from the drug-induced reveries and nightmares experienced by some of the filmmaker’s previous characters.
In due time, Noah comes to understand that the unhappy Creator is going to send a deluge to undo all of his great work so that life can start again in a New World. It’s up to Noah to build the gargantuan Ark that will enable his family and every species on the planet to survive the flood. Noah’s got some ‘splaining to do before he’s able to enroll his wife, Naameh (Jennifer Connelly) and his sons Shem (Douglas Booth), Ham (Logan Lerman) and Japheth (Leo McHugh Carroll) in his crazy plan, but, after his ancient grandfather Methuseleh (Anthony Hopkins) gives his seal of approval, they all come to accept the New World Order. At least for a while. Also getting a Golden Ticket to Salvation on the Ark is Ila (Emma Watson), who Noah took in as a little girl after her family was brutally murdered by Tubal-Cain and his minions, and who now has a special understanding with Shem despite the fact that she was rendered barren by her childhood injuries.
The depiction of the Ark itself in the film is a stunning visual achievement, especially since Aronofsky built enormous portions of the Ark from scratch instead of using computer-generated imagery. He followed the exact dimensions given in the Bible and avoided the boat-like shape used in most popular depictions. The construction of the Ark, however, involves a group of bizarre characters that I had the biggest problem with. The Watchers, based on the giant Nephilim or Fallen Angels mentioned in Genesis, are shown here as gigantic Transformers-like creatures made out of stone. Their presence took me out of the story at first, and even made me think that Noah was “cheating” in his quest to build the Ark since these supherhuman beings were doing so much of the heavy lifting. It was only well into the film when the origin of these earthbound angels was explained that I began to accept their cartoonish presence. Still, their voices — courtesy of actors Frank Langella, Mark Margolis and Nick Nolte — came the closest to the De Mille-like imperious intonations I was happy Aronofsky had been resisting.
As kids, we all sang about the animals coming into the arky-arky by twosies-twosies, but nothing prepared me for the spectacular CG-designed parade of species — the birds, the creepy crawlers, and the beasts of the field — making their way into the Ark. Unlike some versions of the story, these animals shared Noah’s vision and seemed to arrive like clockwork on their own volition. Their arrival is so breathtaking I found myself wishing the visual effects folks had the time and budget to give us even more. Unfortunately, once on board, they are promptly put into hibernation for the duration by fumes from Naameh’s mysterious herb concoction and mostly disappear from view. The flood that finally arrives to wash away the dregs of humanity is also beautifully done but again, left me wanting more. Oh well, at least no extras were killed or had to have limbs amputated this time around!
One part of the film that is sure to evoke controversy is the underlying reason for the Creator’s displeasure. Aronofsky’s version of this story has a decidedly environmental twist. We see the ravages of cities that were destroyed by the wicked descendants of Cain via strip-mining and other examples of wanton disregard for nature. But while this storyline is not part of the Book of Genesis, it did make narrative sense and I never felt like the story was being bogged down with some kind of trendy modern overlay. Well — almost never. Let’s just say some of the comments made about the meat-eating masses heading toward destruction compared to Noah’s virtuous vegetarian family won’t exactly be welcomed by the National Cattleman’s Beef Association.
The crux of the film, and the place where Aronofsky and Russell Crowe make their biggest imprints, is Noah’s own self-doubt and personal agony. But while I appreciate that Aronofsky resisted the urge to peg Noah’s visions as some kind of psychosis or psychological delusion, I was not able to do the same. Especially when he decides that he and his family are doing all of this to save the innocent animals from extinction but that they, along with the rest of humanity, are not meant to survive. Say what? I’m no biblical scholar but I’m pretty sure most versions of the story mention that the sons brought their wives onto the ark to “be fruitful and multiply” once they hit dry land. Why the sudden abstinence? Noah’s death wish came as a shock even while I liked the fact that he didn’t think his family was inherently more righteous than many of the other people who were being washed away by God’s wrath.
But when another “miracle” changes everything on board the Ark and Noah threatens to do something to a family member that is beyond heinous, any remaining sympathy I had for the driven man was lost. I couldn’t see his fanaticism as much different from the worst of what extreme fundamentalists do today in the name of religion. My increasing dislike of Noah the character, however, did not take away from my admiration of Russell Crowe’s performance or Darren Aronofsky’s bold and risky decisions.
I also admired the rest of the cast, especially Jennifer Connelly, whose presence with her Beautiful Mind co-star Crowe added additional poignancy to their relationship. Emma Watson’s post-Harry Potter roles continue to surprise and delight and here she gets a chance to display some very raw emotions that would have sent Hermione Granger to the Hogwarts Psych Ward. The three brothers do a good job. Watson is reunited with her Perks of Being a Wallflower co-star Logan Lerman as middle-brother Ham who, once again, spends most of the film just wanting to get laid. Lerman is the most interesting of the brothers as he grapples with his feelings about their crazy Dad. I like Douglas Booth as Shem, and it’s not his fault that he’s so good looking, but with the rest of the cast appearing increasingly bedraggled (I loved the fact that Jennifer Connelly had dirty fingernails throughout the film), every time the camera panned over to Booth with his perfect hair, scruff and Pepsodent smile, it felt like we were suddenly in an Abercrombie & Fitch-sponsored commercial break. Someone should have called over the make-up people to layer some unattractive filth on the guy. And by the way, I left the film with the same burning question that I’ve always had after hearing this Bible story: With Noah and his family the only survivors of the flood, how exactly do they repopulate the Earth? Ew.
Paramount is clearly trying to pitch Noah as a crossover film that will appeal to both religious and non-religious audiences. I couldn’t help but notice the groups of nuns and rabbis at the press screening I attended at the studio. I’m not sure how that will play out but, given Aronosky’s gutsy retelling, I think there’s enough to please and enrage both groups. Personally, I’m glad someone with Aronosky’s style and skill was entrusted to tell the definitive movie version of this story without the usual clichés. But don’t worry — you’ll still get your rainbow at the end!